You are here

Sessional instructor basics

Information and guidelines

As a sessional instructor, you now have access to the CS faculty web page, using your UWDir account and password. You will find a lot of useful information here, including the list of tasks you will need to do at the beginning and end of the term, as well as teaching guidelines.

Information about instructional support is found from the ISG web page "Information for instructors", where you can also find some tips/suggestions for leading a course team, creating an inclusive learning environment, and dealing with special requests and situations.

Override forms

You also need to know about override forms. In CS, the advisors deal with all of the requests for override form signatures for entry into undergraduate CS courses, in order to ensure that requests are handled in as fair a fashion as possible. (Requests from graduate students for entry into a CS4XX/CS6XX are handled by the CS graduate office. To determine the number of spots available, you will need to look at the schedule information for the CS6XX course. If your course is also cross-listed with a non-CS course, please talk to one of the CS advisors to determine the protocol.) In particular, just before open enrollment, the undergraduate course lecture caps are reduced by 15% so that urgent cases can be admitted by the advisors. Then, in the first week of lectures, the caps are restored to their original values. If there are any spaces left over, the students compete for them in Quest. So, is very important that you do *not* sign any override forms.

Admin staff

The CS receptionist, Chris Border, has been notified of your hiring and the course you will be teaching. Greg Mctavish will take care of finding office space, if necessary. You can obtain a course textbook from Jessica Leung in DC2136. Please contact accounts@cs.uwaterloo.ca if you anticipate any special equipment needs. Undergraduate Studies Admin Coordinator (TBA) handles classroom bookings, including for midterm exams and marking.

Ordering textbooks

You will also need to order your textbooks. If you're not going to order textbooks for your course, please indicate that in the system. For first- and second-year courses, CS343, CS348, CS349 and CS350, Instructional Support Coordinators (ISCs) are responsible for ordering textbooks, so your ISC will contact you.

The Book Store clears all permissions on any copyright material included in courseware packages; however, some copyright clearance requires a longer period of time. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) currently places certain restrictions on the use of online resources when used for assessment in courses. Please see the Copyright Guidelines.

Please notify the Course Coordinators (previously Course Outline Maintainers) of any textbook changes and get their approval before ordering. You need an email copy of the approval. New/updated editions of textbooks do not need approval.

If you want to order a desk or reserve copy, please email Jessica Leung.

Technical support

Each course has a point of contact from the Computer Science Computing Facility (CSCF), who can assist with technical issues if you don't have an ISC (your ISC is the initial point of contact). A list can be found at from the CSCF's web page "Points of Contact".

Note that, for security reasons, confidential information such as student grades must not be sent around via email, iCloud, Google Drive, or other such methods. More secure methods are available, and documentation will be forthcoming. Similarly, portable drives/devices must be encrypted.

Questions?

If you have any questions please contact Gang Lu, Undergraduate Operations Coordinator.